Posted onAugust 18, 2022

Buying an online business is certainly a huge opportunity and a huge risk. Most buyers screw up in two ways. They are blind to potential risks and they miss opportunities for value creation. That’s where due diligence comes in as a valuable and necessary asset in the acquisition process.

In this article, Centurica shares their 3 pillars of online business due diligence.  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Centurica’s 3 Pillars of Due Diligence

The 3 pillars of the Centurica Due Diligence Power Model are as follows: 

1. Financial:  Verifying that the business is worth its asking price.
   
2. Operational:  Calculating risks within the business and identifying value creation opportunities
   
3. Commercial (aka Market):  Analyzing the market and ensuring that the future of the business is ripe for growth

Financial Diligence: Price Verification

P&L, COGs, and Quality of Earnings (QoE)

Coming into an acquisition the main question buyers want to know is, “Is this business worth what the seller is asking for?” Here’s how we make sure sellers don’t get away with misrepresentation. 

P&L Rebuild

At Centurica, we look at bank statements, bookkeeping software, and all the channels where payments come in. We get login access to everything so we can pull all the data. Once we have everything, we carefully rebuild the P&L from scratch. Then, we compare and contrast our P&L with the sellers. 

COGS: Cost of Goods And Services

This area is where we often see big mistakes/differences. The seller wants lower COGS to make their business seem more profitable and attractive. The buyer wants what is most realistic. These two sides rarely line up 100%. 

Another area that impacts COGS greatly, especially in e-commerce and FBA businesses is the volatile freight rates. COGS based on the last 3 months of freight versus the last 12 months will yield very different numbers. It’s not about right or wrong, it’s about reliable information so the buyer can have realistic expectations. 

Quality of Earnings (QoE) Overview

QoE is about the sustainability of revenue and profits. This goes beyond the numbers and is a situation where an accounting firm has some limitations.  

For example, let’s imagine a medical equipment distributor that had a significant increase in revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic.  How sustainable is this revenue increase?  In this case, the P&L may be error free but moving forward, the normalized revenue of the business may be significantly different than what the P&L represents.  

Financial Due Diligence Summary

In essence, proper financial due diligence if done well, answers the following questions: 

• Is the P/L correct and accurate?
• What discrepancies are there and why?
• Is the revenue sustainable?

Next, let’s dive into pillar #2: Operational Diligence. 

Operational Diligence: Risk & Value Creation

Transferability, Risks, and Cost Savings

Operational diligence is all about uncovering risks and discovering opportunities.  Operational diligence is split into three main areas: Transferability, Risks, and Cost Savings

Transferability

Transferability is rather simple: Are you and your team able to take over this business and run it effectively? Here are a few things to look for that can help determine the answer. 

• Key Person Risk Dependency: Is there one person who’s been running the business forever who has unique knowledge about the business? Could the business run without this person? 
  
• Vendors/Partners: Will the vendors and partners continue to work with you? Lots of smaller businesses don’t have partnerships or written contracts, so this is important to look into.
  
• Team Members: Is the entire team coming with the business? Are they interested in working with you if you become the new owner?
  
• Technical Niche: Do you and your team have the technical chops and skills to run this business? 

Keeping these thoughts and questions in mind should help you evaluate the transferability of the business you are looking at. Next, we will look at cost savings. 

Cost Savings

Obviously, this is all about cutting costs and saving money. Saving money and/or being more efficient with money can be a big area of improvement. Here are the main areas to explore. 

• COGS/COS: Do you have a more optimized supply chain? Can you build a better service delivery that’s going to be more efficient and at a lower cost?
  
• Human Resources: Are you able to attract and hire talent? 
  
• Process Improvements & Systems: Can you find ways to make things more efficient? 
  
• Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable (AR/AP): How can you improve the process of money coming in and out?

Operational Due Diligence Summary

In summary, a bullet-proof operational DD can help you get realistic answers to the following questions: 

• If this business was ours now, how could we make this work?
• Where can I bring in efficiency to reduce costs? 
• Where can I create value immediately? 

Time for the last pillar of our power due diligence model, my personal favorite: commercial due diligence. 

Commercial Due Diligence: Growth

External, Internal, & Growth Levers

Also known as market diligence, commercial due diligence is all about growth. It’s much more forward-thinking and about the future. There are three main areas for growth: external, internal, and accessing what I like to call growth levers.  

External

This focuses on everything outside of the business that influences the business.

• What are key market drivers?
• What are the trends like?
• Will the key market drivers grow or shrink in the future? 
• Who are the top competitors? 
• What are your advantages/disadvantages vs target?

Internal

This aspect looks at everything inside of the business itself. 

• Customer Analysis: Who are the customers and clients of the business you’re acquiring?
  
• LTV: What’s the average lifetime value of a customer? 
  
• Churn: How often is this business losing customers? 
  
• NPS: Does this business have an NPS? Can you run an NPS? 

Lastly, you can simply look at the business plan as a whole. Can the business actually be improved?

Finally, we can look more deeply at some growth levers.

6 Growth Levers

1. CRO: Conversation Rate Optimization. Ultimately, the question here is: Can you convert more of the current leads that you’re already getting into customers?
   
2. SEO: Search Engine Optimization: How well is the business ranked versus its competitors?
   
3. Pay Per Click (PPC) Optimization: Is there an opportunity for growth here?
   
4. Sales Team. Can you improve the sales team and sales pipeline? 
   
5. Joint Venture or Partnerships. Are there opportunities here?
   
6. Email Marketing Is there an opportunity to segment more carefully or add more follow-up sequences?

Conclusion: Become an Informed Buyer

So, there you have it: Centurica’s three pillars to due diligence. We hope you found this post useful and that these questions and insights can help inform your next acquisition. If you’re interested in learning more about Centurica’s services, our Market Watch app, or simply would like to connect, please don’t hesitate to reach out. 

The post Buying an Online Business: Centurica’s Guide to Due Diligence first appeared on cmgdigitalproperty.com.

originally published at Niche Persuits

In the early days of the internet, people used traditional blog posts to share their thoughts and feelings with the world. These days, blogs are used for a variety of purposes, from marketing to sharing news and information. But what is the future of blogging?

Will it continue to be popular among online users? Or will it fade into obscurity? And if it’s bound to change in the near future, what can you do to help prepare for these changes and to make sure you rank highly?

If these are questions you’ve been asking yourself, worry not. This post was written to help provide some valuable insights into the future of blogging.

So, let’s dive in!

MORE PEOPLE ARE BLOGGING THAN EVER BEFORE

Online competition has become more fierce than ever. Although blogging wasn’t any less popular back in the day, it experienced staggering growth due to the pandemic outbreak.

Since more consumers turned online to shop, brands followed the lead – as they say, business is where the customers are.

So, besides surging e-commerce sales, 46.5% of people started blogging more, according to a recent survey.

However, it is worth noting that the pandemic isn’t the only driving factor of accelerated digital content consumption, businesses have always sought ways to up their content marketing game, and blogging has, correspondingly, become more and more popular.

Here’s an overview of key blogging insights to help you get your head around where the blogging industry is headed.

• There are over 600 million blogs out of 1.9 billion websites globally.
• Over 31.7 million bloggers exist in the United States alone, according to data published by Statista.

• On average, bloggers spend around 6 hours every day writing blog posts. So unless you LOVE
  IT, I believe there are better ways to create cashflow and profits!

• Brands that blog get 55% more website visitors than those that do not. Plus, they also receive 97% more links to their websites. So if you own a Shopify Store or any type of ecommerce store, I believe adding a blog to your shop is a great idea. That is what we have done with our online beach shop.

• WordPress statistics show that users produce around 70 million new blog posts monthly.
• Another insight reveals that around 7.5 million blog posts are published every day.
• A sizeable 67% of bloggers are positive that their daily posts generate desired results.
• On average, bloggers make around $46,425 annually in the US. However, the number is predicted to grow due to the increasing popularity of blogging among brands and individuals.

11 IMPORTANT FACTORS TO THE FUTURE OF BLOGGING

Here are some of the biggest factors that are affecting the future of blogging.

1. REDDIT AND FORUMS

Picture this. You’re looking for the “Best Eco-friendly Sunscreen.” 

Wouldn’t you rather ask someone who has actually used multiple sunscreens and get a quick answer, as opposed to speaking with a salesperson who will give you several pages of information on the supposed “best” eco-friendly sunscreens, along with some of their own personal promotional products?

This is exactly why Reddit and other discussion forums are becoming successful. Users can turn to their peers for opinions that they trust without feeling obliged to buy anything.

Reddit, with over 430 million, and Quora, with 300 million active users globally, have become the go-to platforms for online users to get their quick queries answered by experts.

However, your blog can still stand a chance against these sites if you consider these practices.

• Create compelling headlines that intrigue the audience to click on your blog rather than turn to community-based platforms
• Avoid investing time in creating content around obvious questions. I mean, not many people would be interested to read a 3000+/- word blog post about the Statue of Liberty when they’re only trying to get a straightforward answer to a question like, “What’s the height of the Statue of Liberty” or “Top 3 sunscreens for people with sensitive skin” when the topic could be answered quickly within 50 to 500 words.

• If you still want to create content around the factual and straightforward “Statue of Liberty” type questions, ensure to leverage tactics like the zero-click strategy and Google’s Featured Snippets to boost your reach. This will display your content in the top spot when someone searches for that query.

2. GOOGLE INCREASINGLY SHOWS THE ANSWER TO A QUERY ON THE SERPS

The “Time is money” adage got real with the rise of the internet.

Internet surfers seeking information are usually pressed for time. Also, in a world where everybody prefers skimming, do you think it’s easy to convince an audience to read the entire blog?

Search engines these days are designed to provide an answer to a user’s query directly on the top of the first page in the form of a snippet, saving the audience the hassle of reading an entire blog post. 

While that increases user experience, it’s a bad thing for brands and bloggers that are banking on getting visitors to their sites to earn from their posts.

But again, you stand a chance. For many people, a few pointers on the first page of Google might not be enough to serve as a satisfactory answer.

So, perhaps there’s a potential for your blog to receive a click if your blog is the one featured on the first page as a snippet. 

The key to successfully targeting and capturing search engine snippets is understanding your audience’s queries and creating concise, useful, and actionable content around them.

3. COOKIES

Google announced phasing out third-party cookies back in 2020. However, the search engine has currently delayed it until 2024.

The question is, why should you care? It’s because third-party cookie elimination will take a toll on digital marketing. After all, it will remove targeted advertising.

As a result, brands will encounter a significant challenge in tracking the activity of their potential customers. 

Getting specific blogging content to a relevant audience will become even more tricky. The cookie elimination will also leave a considerable impact on re-marketing practices.

On the bright side, for now, Google only “intends” to do that, and intentions change – as we mentioned, the initiative is already delayed.

A few experts believe that third-party cookie removal is yet uncertain because much of Google’s revenue relies on it.

4. AI CONTENT

It’s no secret that AI-generated content is on the rise, and why wouldn’t it be? After all, artificial intelligence is significantly faster at churning out content than manually typing and it’s getting smarter and more human-like by the day. 

In some cases, a well-researched 1,000-word blog that might have taken up to 4 hours can be produced within 30 minutes using an AI tool like Jasper. And while Google penalizes thin content – so far- they’ve no accurate way of detecting AI content.

Still, sometimes AI writing tools don’t always produce content that is factually correct. So, while it can help you create content at scale, just be sure to fact-check everything it says or at least hire an Editor to do so.

You can learn more about AI Generate content here:

5. BIG PUBLISHERS TAKING ALL THE MAIN RANKINGS

Running a successful e-commerce store while competing with giant corporations like Amazon is no easy feat. The same goes for your blog.

Whenever someone types a query in the Google search box, they’re more likely to stumble upon popular publishers, from Forbes to Dot Dash.

Since such companies have millions of dollars in capital, they have the resources to create high-quality websites that rank.

However, there is still a point when big publishers reach their capacity to tap into lucrative topics. 

To target your audience and reduce competition with big-name brands, you can always start targeting low-volume keywords and long-tail questions instead. 

6. RECESSION

Unfortunately, according to most experts, the possibility of going through a recession in the near future is high, and almost every business model is going to be affected, including the content marketing industry and the blogging community.

This keeps companies from spending more on ads, which means less website traffic.

However, even if we do experience a recession, they’re usually short and temporary. According to NBER data, the average lifespan of a recession is around 17 months in the U.S.

So, even if the recession impacts your business WordPress blog, the effect will be temporary and will likely diminish once the economy gets stable. Also, you can opt for recession-proof niches if you’ve yet to begin your blogging journey.

• Home improvement services
• Child care
• Freelancing industry
• Cleaning services
• Online teaching
• Car repairs

Such niches remain evergreen and less likely to be affected by external factors. Everybody, for instance, goes for car repairs to keep their vehicle up and running. Likewise, cleaning services have been in high demand since the pandemic outbreak.

7. E.A.T. BECOMING PREVALENT IN MORE AND MORE NICHES

E.A.T. is an acronym that stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. The concept stems from Google’s Search Quality Guidelines. It helps Google measure how much trust it can place in a specific brand.

For instance, anybody online can write and publish content, but not everyone’s content is well-researched.

Imagine sharing wrong information about managing blood pressure. Incorrect content might lead someone to take potentially life-threatening actions.

Who would be to blame at this point? Google. This is why the search engine has henceforth leveraged measures like E.A.T to avoid spoiling its reputation among the online audience and ensure that only factually correct content and trustworthy sites are ranked highly.

E.A.T. will become a more prominent part of SEO. So, you should start using content strategies to build your site authority by using tactics like only targeting a specific niche, interacting in your industry community to get backlinks, and generating long-form content.

8. BRANDS CREATING THEIR OWN CONTENT MOATS

A popular saying in the world of blogging is, “Brands are the future of SEO.” And it’s easy to see why.

E-commerce giants know the drill to maintain a competitive edge by providing value and building strong relationships with the audience.

For example, imagine you have a query regarding health and well-being. You’ll likely trust an authoritative site like WHO or Unilever compared to some XYZ websites you don’t recognize or have never heard about before.

So, brands are more likely to invest in moats to outpace their competitors online. Therefore, you must create a solid content marketing strategy early to start gaining recognition in the highly competitive blogging world.

9. VIDEOS APPEARING MORE AND MORE ON THE SERPS

Our brains process visuals 60,000 times faster than text. Because Google’s algorithm is constantly changing and modifying itself to fit the audience’s needs, it’s now starting to promote video content rather than text after typing a query in the search box.

For example, if you want to know about the features of the latest iPhone 14 Pro Max. You might be more likely to click on a YouTube video or another video format than read a 2000-word blog post. 

Unless you’re an avid reader, there’s many that would prefer a 10-minute video that describes the product features in detail.

So, how can you keep your visitor from turning to other social media platforms to stream a video rather than read blog content? You can vastly increase your user engagement by publishing videos on your blog.

In fact, a survey by Wyzowl reveals that 86% of marketing professionals use video as a marketing tool because it helps them boost website traffic. 78% also believe it helps them grow sales!

10. OTHER PLATFORMS

Social media sites like Instagram and Tik Tok are also formidable competitors to the blogging platform. There’s a demographic these days don’t bother reading lengthy articles when they can get the gist of something in a few minutes in the shape of short-form videos on Tik Tok, Snapchat, or Instagram.

However, it can also be used as a tool for content. For instance, you can use it to share blogs in the form of teasers, post content related to your blogs, and interact with the audience in a more candid way.

Moreover, social media can also be used to create an additional source of income. And these platforms can also be used to perform blogger outreach and form relationships with well-known industry players to boost the chances of your site’s success.

11. THE RISE OF VOICE SEARCHES

The trend of smart speakers and smartphone assistants grows with each passing day.

Reports show that over 135.6 billion US people use voice search features. What’s more, over 71% of people use voice searches to conduct a query rather than typing it.

This depicts the shift in how the online audience consumes information. So, if you haven’t optimized your blog for voice search, it’s high time to get started.

8 TIPS FOR PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE OF BLOGGING

The future of blogging might be challenging, but it is certainly not dead. Here are a few tips and tricks you can leverage to pull in your target audience to your blogs and generate revenue.

1. OPTIMIZE FOR SEARCH INTENT RATHER THAN KEYWORDS

Since Google wants to offer readers value and present them with the most accurate information, it’s increasingly relying on search intent to determine blog post rankings.

And this change in Google’s algorithm may have dire consequences on content generated using outdated blogging tactics in the future.

Because while conducting keyword research will always be an essential part of SEO, it may not be enough to appear at the top of search engines.

This is why bloggers should start thinking about how they can provide readers with more value and tailor their content based on search intent to target their audience better.

Top Tip: Here is a detailed guide by Ahrefs on how to optimize for search intent.

2. ADAPT TO CHANGING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Not only does the old maxim “Move with times, or the time moves you,” apply perfectly to most things in our life but to content marketing strategies and the future of blogging as well. 

The biggest recent change in consumer behavior is the increased use of smartphones to browse the internet.

According to the BBC, people spend around 4.8 hours daily on their smartphones. Another research unfolds the average spending time of people using mobile phones climbed to 6 hours.

So, your quality content won’t help much if your blog isn’t optimized for smartphones.

Likewise, the spark of interest in Tiktok is especially one that you shouldn’t overlook either.

• The platform has over 4.6 billion active users in 2022
• It has attracted around 340 million new members annually between 2018 and 2022.
• At one point, TikTok overtook YouTube in the US with more average watch time.

So be sure to embrace the change and make sure your blog is mobile-friendly and maintain a presence on platforms like Tik Tok as well. 

You should also try to use media elements like infographics, gifs, slides, and videos to make your content more interesting. After all, plain text doesn’t hold readers’ short attention spans for long.

3. BUILD YOUR AUTHORITY WITHIN YOUR NICHE

Google certainly favors established brands in its algorithm, and this trend is expected to continue.

This means you have to compete with prominent brands to gain consumer trust and build authority. That, unfortunately, is no walk in the park.

Begin sowing the seeds of your blog, start with a clear mission and vision to set yourself apart from others. 

Focus on building authority and reader loyalty through engagement, growing your blog organically, and designing engaging content that resonates with your readers. 

All of this will help increase the chances of getting featured in Google’s featured snippet and Knowledge Graph boxes.

Top Tip: If you’re looking for ways to build site authority, the Authority Site System (TASS) by Authority Hacker is an extremely helpful course that we highly recommend.

4. THE HUMAN CONNECTION IS GOING TO BECOME MORE IMPORTANT

The future of blogging is not only about creating content but also about understanding the human factor.

Rather than simply relying on tech and tricks, successful bloggers need to understand customer needs and preferences.

The more you connect with readers through personalized emails, comments, and social media interactions, the more their trust in your blog builds up.

You must also focus on delighting your readers with content that they can relate to. It could be anything from entertaining stories to educational blog posts that help people make decisions.

Additionally, you could also try sounding more “human” and relatable online. An individual starter has the power to humanize their content and make it more relatable, which many influential sites lack or perhaps overlook.

Corporate language is sterilized and boring. So, try adding a twist to your blog by making it more:

• Personable
• Interesting
• Trustworthy

For example, if you plan to run a blog in the pregnancy niche like Mama Natural, sharing your personal experience with transparency and empathizing with other moms in your About Us section may help you win more attention and create a stronger connection with your audience.

This will humanize your relationship with your readers. As a result, they might prefer visiting your blog rather than reading general information on authoritative sites.  

5. INSULATE YOUR SITE FROM CHANGING TIMES

To insulate your site from changing times, you must build authority in your niche to compete with other sites.

Pick a topic and create quality content around it. Make sure you avoid focusing on short-tail keywords during keyword research since they’ll be challenging to compete with – after all, Google boosts bigger brands.

Ideally, go for long-tail keywords to increase the chances of ranking in your niche. 

Also, avoid opting for ever-changing niches that require massive budgets – think Gaming and Tech. 

Instead, choose ever-green niches that remain relatable year-round and require a minimal budget to get started. Some popular options include:

• Physical fitness (although make sure you’re actually a Fitness instructor to keep within Google’s YMYL rules)
• Relationship niche
• Cooking/Recipes
• Home Improvement
• DIY Craft
• Weddings
• Travel

6. INCREASING THE READABILITY OF YOUR BLOG POSTS

Content creation isn’t about cramming complicated terms throughout your blog posts. Nothing turns visitors off like complex vocabulary.

When it comes to current trends and the future of Blogging, online readers prefer simple sentences that are easy to skim through. Here’s a quick example

1. Your extortionate shopping sprees are a deterrent to sustainable living
2. Your wasteful shopping habits can damage sustainable living

See the difference? Both sentences mean the same thing. But the second one doesn’t require readers to open the dictionary or Google every word’s meaning. 

Top Tip: You can always use a handy tool like Yoast to check your readability score quickly. As a general rule of thumb, try to always target a readability score of 60 or above.

7. CREATING CONTENT THAT IS EASY TO SKIM THROUGH

Besides simple vocabulary, always try to use short sentences and paragraphs as well as eye-catching bullet points to make your content skimmable for browser and mobile users.

Because 55% of visitors spend less than 15 seconds on your website, your content must be easy to read to help them retrieve the desired information.

Your sentences should ideally be no longer than 25 words, and keep about 2-3 sentences per paragraph. You can always use handy tools like Hemingway or Grammarly to assess your client’s quality and to look for grammatical mistakes and errors.

8.  IMPROVE THE USER EXPERIENCE FOR YOUR VISITORS

If you’re keeping an eye on the future of blogging you have to keep this important stat in mind: you have around 15 seconds to hook visitors who land on your site. If your website takes longer to load or looks too complicated, chances are you have already lost them and sent them straight to your competitors.

That’s why it’s so important to boost your blog’s User Experience for your visitors. Here are a few tips on how you can optimize your site better:

• Avoid using free website blogging platforms like Weebly that don’t offer speedy loading times and clean themes.
• Use fast hosting service providers like Iridium to make sure your blog loads up quickly and looks sleek.

• Run a Core Web Vitals report to see how your content performs online. It uses specific factors that Google considers when rating a website’s overall user experience.

KEY TAKEAWAYS ON THE FUTURE OF BLOGGING

• There are over 600 million blogs online, and 31.7 million bloggers belong to the US alone.
• Bloggers spend over 6 hours every day writing blog posts.
• Around 67% of bloggers get desired results from daily blog posts.
• Embracing newer content practices like optimizing your content for search intent rather than just keywords, building authority, and adapting to changing consumer behaviors can help ensure the success of your blogs. (see our in depth keyword research guide for more)

Even if the competition is getting tougher, you still have more than enough resources to make your voice heard in the Blogosphere. The future of blogging is bright if you use the right tools and create quality content!

Just remember, the key to success in this industry lies in adapting to the ever-changing needs and wants of your readership while also embracing new technologies and practices. 

Keep these things in mind as you continue writing content for your blog, and you’ll be on your way to maintaining a successful online platform well into the future.

Next: Read our step by step guide on how to start a blog that makes money.

BLOGGING & NICHE WEBSITES

By Jason Donegan

A seasoned content writer with over 140 five star reviews on a well known content platform, Jason’s interest in all things SEO turned into a full on passion during the pandemic.

In a previous job, Jason was a radio producer on a leading breakfast show in Dublin and it was during this time he developed a “leave no stone unturned” attitude when doing research on any topic.

This is something he carries with him into his SEO optimized writing, giving 200% to every project. He now writes not only for Niche Pursuits, but another highly respected site in the industry.

When he’s not writing articles he tries to spend 30 – 60 minutes every day learning something new about the industry.

This can be anything from listening to an episode of Niche Pursuits, watching the Ahrefs YouTube channel, browsing ODYS domains, or reading an article on Backlinko.

As a content writer, he is keen to focus on the world of SEO and all things digital marketing – with both areas appealing to his hyper analytical way of thinking (and, if he’s being honest, his inner geek)

The post THE FUTURE OF BLOGGING: (8 TIPS TO FUTURE-PROOF YOUR TRAFFIC AND PROFITS) first appeared on cmgdigitalproperty.com.

All your questions about selling domains, answered.

Does Odys buy domains?

How much commission do you take on each sale?

Are there any other fees besides the commission upon a successful sale?

What info do you need for the listing?

How can I know if my domain has good SEO metrics?

How can I check if my domain is trademark-free?

Do you accept domains with live websites?

How should I price the domain submitted for sale?

When will my domain appear in the marketplace?

How do I get paid once my domain is sold?

Should I transfer the domain to Odys?

Can I list my domain somewhere else besides Odys?

The post All your questions about selling domains, answered. first appeared on cmgdigitalproperty.com.